1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to display devices and more particularly to such devices wherein the visual effect is created, at least in part, by liquid movement. Most particularly, this invention pertains to such devices wherein the moving liquid is intermittently illuminated, as by a strobe.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
Strobed water displays are known. The displays disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,782 issued to Mizuno are exemplary. In one display embodiment disclosed in that patent, water from a catch basin is pumped out through jet nozzles distributed along an annular pipe. The annular pipe and jet nozzles are rotated by a pulley with the result that the streams of water emitted from the jet nozzles form a cylindrical water screen. The water screen is illuminated by one or more strobolights which, according to the patent, give the water screen the appearance of having crossing tracks. As disclosed in the patent, the visual effect of the device results from adjusting the strobe rate to at or near multiples of the rotation rate whereby the stream of water ejected from each jet nozzle is illuminated at substantially the same location in space upon each rotation of the annular pipe.
In a variation disclosed in Mizuno's patent, a single stream of water is broken into droplets which are emitted from a jet nozzle at or near a constant period of pulsation. According to the patent, the period of pulsation may be regulated by, for example, a vibrator. The resulting stream of droplets is illuminated by a strobolight. As disclosed in the patent, when the strobe rate is substantially the same as the period between droplets, the droplet stream appears motionless. When the strobe rate is varied from the pulsation period, the droplets will appear to rise or fall. Thus, unlike Mizuno's embodiment discussed above, wherein the visual effect is created by adjusting the strobe rate relative to the period of rotation of one or more streams of water, the visual effect of this embodiment is created by adjusting the strobe rate relative to the spacing between droplets in a single stream of water.
Other lighted water displays are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,337,113, 3,383,816, 3,568,927, 3,455,509 and 3,432,099. However, none of the displays disclosed in these patents is strobed. U.S. Pat. No. 1,977,997 dislcoses the concept of utilizing sound to regulate flow through a fountain.